Setting yourself up for Success

After you have gathered all your resources together, it is time to sit down and prepare yourself for the journey. It is important not to just jump in without a plan. There is a lot of information to cover, delving full force into the content with no strategic planning can feel productive at first, but eventually prove to be debilitating to the success of your studies. This planning doesn’t have to take days or weeks, but the time you do spend up front will render benefits through the extent of your studying.

So what is your goal?

I know this is probably an obvious question and one easy to answer…“I want to pass the Engineer in Training exam!” There, so, I answered it for you, good let’s move on, or not.

The process of becoming a Professional Engineer is a serious endeavor taking pure dedication and commitment to a long journey that lasts more than the short period of time you study for the EIT exam. We are Engineers, and it’s not easy becoming one, if it was, everyone would do it. So ask yourself, are you committed for this journey? Do you have a support group around you that understands the undertaking of such a journey? Think long term, think about the ultimate goal. Doing this will allow your mind to focus on the big picture, helping you keep steady when you encounter the small obstacles along the way.

Think about this, your goal has already partially been set and you have already been making progress even if you don’t realize it. You have made it through an Engineering program that is formulated to test your limits daily. We all know there are ‘weed out’ classes, we made it through them, dominated them. Preparing for the Engineer in Training exam is no different, it’s just another test of your limits, a ‘weed out’ process, to ensure only the best are left to be registered as Professional Engineers. I know that you have what it takes, believe in yourself.

Why do you want to go through this?

You have established the goal in taking the Engineer in Training exam and acknowledged the commitment it takes to dominate the journey. You have also placed the task in to perspective, enveloping the exam into the bigger goal of obtaining a Professional Engineer License, which will help you weather the small obstacles along the way.

Now you must assess your motivation. Why is it you want to take on this journey? Are you motivated by the money that comes from it in the end? Are you pressured from outside expectations, such as family members, employers, etc? These are motivations, but the root of them is negative, and is not sustainable for the long haul. Be honest with yourself and assess what naturally is coming from within. Define your positive natural motivations that do exist. Our society tends to push the negatives ahead of the positives, but transcend that trend, and re-work your mind to think positive. Doing this will uncover the motivations that will sustain the long haul of the journey.

Do you have any constraints that will need to be managed to ensure success?

Think about the time that you have until the planned Engineer in Training exam date. This finite piece of information will be the driving factor in how your studies are designed. Their will be other factors that will contend for your time and are in need of definition. Are you working a full time job? Do you have a Family to support? Do you have classes to attend and other exams to take? Write down what these constraints are so you can define a realistic study plan moving forward.

Are you prepared to Fail?

A little blunt, I know. But this is something I had to ask myself prior to taking the exam. Ask yourself this question and use it, as I did, as motivation to stay on track and focused on the goal to dominate the exam.